Results of the prospective study partially support the mediation hypothesis. However, expected relationships between the encoding stage (SRET) and other stages of information processing and depressive symptoms could be not replicated. In addition, the effects of the mental representation stage on depressive symptoms were not mediated by response evaluation and selection or enactment. Lastly, response evaluation and selection had direct effects on depressive symptoms without being mediated by enactment (social withdrawal behavior). Future studies may help to determine whether the exclusion of adolescents who may fulfill criteria for a current or lifetime diagnosis of depression may limit the effect of depression on encoding information. In Dodge’s 1993 model of “social information processing,” depression is the result of a linear sequence of five stages of information processing. These stages follow a person’s reaction to situational stimuli. In this study, the social information processing model was conceptualized as mediational in which each stage of the model would mediate the relationship between the preceding and subsequent stages. To test this hypothesis, a prospective study with 3 waves of assessment was conducted with a study sample of 92 adolescents without lifetime or current depression. Tables, figures, references